The 4th Takpu Pemavajra Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub. Image credit: Treasury of Lives. Click on image to enlarge.

b.1876 – d.1935

Incarnations: Tagpu སྟག་ཕུ།
Tradition: Geluk དགེ་ལུགས།
Geography: Lhasa ལྷ་ས།
Historical Period: 19^th Century ༡༩ དུས་རབས། / 20^th Century ༢༠ དུས་རབས།
Institution: Amdo Chubzang Monastery ཆུ་བཟང་དགོན།; Drepung Loseling College འབྲས་སྤུངས་བློ་གསལ་གླིང་གྲྭ་ཚང།
Name Variants: Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub འཇམ་དཔལ་བསྟན་པའི་དངོས་གྲུབ།; Ngawang Lobzang Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub ངག་དབང་བློ་བཟང་འཇམ་དཔལ་བསྟན་པའི་དངོས་གྲུབ།; Pema Dorje པདྨ་རྡོ་རྗེ།; Pema Vajra པདྨ་བ་ཛྲ།; Takpu Dorje Chang སྟག་ཕུ་རྡོ་རྗེ་འཆང།; Takpu Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub སྟག་ཕུ་འཇམ་དཔལ་བསྟན་པའི་དངོས་གྲུབ།; Takpu Pema Vajra སྟག་ཕུ་པདྨ་བ་ཛྲ།

The Fourth Takpu, Pema Vajra Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub (stag phu 04 pad+ma ba dz+ra ‘jam dpal bstan pa’i dngos grub), most commonly known as Takpu Dorje Chang (stag phu rdo rje ‘chang), was born in 1876 in Naksho (nags shod), Kham.

Sources from the early nineteenth century give the incarnation line as follows: Gushri Pelden Dondrub (stag phu gu shrI dpal ldan don grub, 1382-1466) Zhangpo Chogyel Tendzin (zhang po chos rgyal bstan ‘dzin, d.u.), Ngawang Chodrak Zangpo (ngag dbang chos grags bzang po, 1493-c.1559), Lobzang Tenpai Gyeltsen (blo bzang bstan pa’i rgyal mtshan, 1714-1762), Lobzang Chokyi Wangchuk (blo bzang chos kyi dbang phyug, 1765-c.1792) and Ngawang Lobzang Tendzin (ngag dbang blo bzang bstan ‘dzin, b.1808) and Lobzang Dondrub (blo bzang don grub, d.u.). Although this makes Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub the eighth incarnation it appears there are several ways to count this incarnation lineage and earlier incarnations are usually not included.

Another title commonly associated with the Takpu incarnations is that of Garwang (gar dbang) in its variant forms: Gargyi Wangchuk (gar gyi dbang phyug) and Gargyi Wangpo (gar gyi dbang po), already used by Lobzang Chokyi Wangchuk, who appears to have been known by this name. According to a title in the second volume of his collected works, Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub notes that he is the Fourth Gargyi Wangchuk (gar gyi dbang phyug bzhi pa), suggesting that Chokyi Wangchuk was indeed the first ‘official’ Garwang incarnation. Tenpai Ngodrub is today generally regarded as the Fourth Takpu incarnation amongst contemporary Geluk lineage holders.

Regardless of its origin, successive Takpu incarnations are said to have been highly accomplished yogis and are well-known for their pure visions (dag snang) of deities and the ability to travel to various pure lands in order to receive teachings. Lobzang Chokyi Wangchuk, for example, is known for his cycle of Thirteen Pure Visions of Takpu (stag phu’i dag snang gsang ba bcu gsum) which includes deities such as Hayagriva, Amitayus, Avalokitesvara and Tara.

The 4th Takpu Pemavajra (top) and Kyabje Pabongkha Rinpoche (bottom) as depicted in the Dorje Shugden lineage tree.

In 1888, at the age of twelve, Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub entered Drepung Loseling Monastery (‘bras spungs blo gsal gling) in Lhasa where he studied Pramana, Madhyamaka, Prajnaparamita, Vinaya and Abhidharma. He returned home to Naksho in 1894.

He returned to the Lhasa region at the age of thirty, spending much of his time at Chubzang Ritro (chu bzang ri khrod), one of the many hermitages above Sera Monastery outside of Lhasa. There he taught his most famous disciple, Pabongkha Dechen Nyingpo (pha bong kha bde chen snying po, 1878-1941), whose multiple requests are credited with much of Takpu Pema Vajra’s teachings. These include, for example, the compilation of a new initiation manual for the Thirteen Pure Visions of Takpu. It was at Chubzang Ritro that Pabongkha in turn taught the Third Trijang, Lobzang Yeshe Tendzin Gyatso (khri byang 03 blo bzang ye shes bstan ‘dzin rgya mtsho, 1901-1981).

According to tradition, after being prompted by the protector Dorje Shugden (rdo rje shugs ldan) Pabongkha requested Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub to travel to Maitreya’s pure land, Tusita. Tusita is particularly significant in the Geluk or Ganden lineage, as the tradition is named after the pure land and is believed to be the realm in which Tsongkhapa Lobzang Drakpa (rje tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa, 1357-1419), the founder of the Geluk tradition currently resides. While in Tusita Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub is said to have received the complete cycle of instructions related to Dorje Shugden and his five families (rdo rje shugs ldan rigs lnga), including the life-entrustment initiation (srog gtad), from Tsongkhapa by way of Duldzin Drakpa Gyeltsen (‘dul ‘dzin grags pa rgyal mtshan, 1357-1419), who is believed to have been a previous incarnation of the deity.

Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub transmitted this elaborate cycle to Pabongkha, through whom it was later diffused throughout the Geluk tradition. Today, however, the nature of Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub’s experience is controversial within the Geluk tradition with some asserting this pure vision actually took place, while others, most notably the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tendzin Gyatso (ta la’i bla 14 ma bstan ‘dzin rgya mtsho, b.1935), following the advice of the Nechung (gnas chung) medium, stating that this vision was not a blessing of higher beings but instead was a hindrance.

A painting of Takpu Pemavajra commissioned by H.E. the 25th Tsem Rinpoche. Click on image to enlarge.

Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub’s involvement in the worship of Dorje Shugden is said to date to his first stay in U-Tsang. During that time the Ninth Demo, Ngawang Lobzang Trinle Rabgye (de mo 09 ngag dbang bio bzang ‘phrin las rab rgyas, 1855-1900), was hosting a number of Nyingma lamas and practitioners at the regency seat of Tengyeling (bstan rgyas gling) in Lhasa. Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub was in Lhasa for the Monlam Chenmo (smon lam chen mo) and he noticed a ring of fire around the panbe (span bad) — the maroon-colored brushwood parapet — of Tengyeling. His teacher at the time, Lhotrul Ngawang Kyenrab Tenpai Wangchuk (lho sprul ngag dbang mkhyen rab bstan pa’i dbang phyug, d.u.), who was associated with both Drepung Loseling and Tashilhunpo (bkra shis lhun po), told his student that it was a manifestation of Dorje Shugden’s activity. Soon after, the Ninth Demo was arrested under accusations of aiming to harm the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Tubten Gyatso (ta la’i bla ma 13 thub bstan rgya mtsho, 1876-1933) through the practice of black magic. Demo died in custody and Tengyeling was appropriated by the government. The entire episode is understood within this lineage of Dorje Shugden to be an act of Shugden’s wrath against the pollution (that is, the presence of Nyingma practice) of the Geluk tradition.

He returned again to Kham only to make a third extensive trip to Lhasa in his late 1930s. During this third visit he again gave teachings and transmissions to Pabongkha, including Lamrim and Lojong teachings, completion stage teachings such as those of Guhyasamaja and the Six Yogas of Naropa and the initiations and instructions of Heruka Cakrasamvara and the cycle of Cittamani Tara. He also received teachings from Pabongkha on several occasions, such as those of the completion stage of Heruka and the initiations contained in the collection of The Hundred Which are a Source of Jewels (rin ‘byung brgya rtsa).

Padmasambhava. Image credit: himalayanart.org. Click on image to enlarge.

Apart from his visions related to Dorje Shugden, Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub is said to have had numerous other mystical experiences. During a stay at Chubzang he had a vision of the sixty-two deity body mandala of Heruka Cakrasamvara, from whom he received the four initiations (dbang bzhi). He was also able to reveal the location of a sacred cave called Takten (rtag brtan) near Chubzang, which is related to Heruka. During a retreat at the Nyang caves (nyang phug) near Samye Monastery (bsam yas), he had a vision of Padmasambhava, his consorts, and his entourage of disciples. Although this may be interpreted as contradictory to the often perceived sectarian nature of this lineage, Padmasambhava appears to have been held in high regard. Trijang Lobzang Tendzin Gyatso, for example, also bestowed Padmasambhava empowerments and related teachings.

Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub is also an important lineage holder of the close lineage (nye brgyud) of Cittamani Tara and is believed to have been in direct contact with the goddess. Previous Takpu incarnations had also communicated with Tara through such visions. The Cittamani Tara cycle is unique in the Geluk tradition because it was taught by Tara as an anuttarayogatantra practice, instead of kriyatantra, and contains teachings on the generation and completion stages, as well as the necessary empowerments. The cycle was later classified by Pabongkha as belonging to the Mother Tantra (ma rgyud) class. Following the death of Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub, the primary lineage holders of the this cycle were Pabongkha Dechen Nyingpo and then Trijang Lobzang Tendzin Gyatso, both of whom composed a number of texts on the topic. The cycle is widely diffused throughout the Geluk tradition.

In 1923 he travelled to Lhasa again, arriving soon after that year’s Monlam Chenmo. As usual he met Pabongkha, with whom he went to the Takten cave where he again had a number of visions, including one of Dromtonpa Gyelwai Jungne (‘brom ston pa rgyal ba’i ‘byung gnas, 1005-1064).

Cittamani Tara with forms of Tara at the chakras (Painted by Lama Thubten Yeshe; Photo by Dionne Wilson). Click on image to enlarge.

During this stay in U-Tsang, Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub was also able to meet Trijang Lobzang Yeshe Tendzin Gyatso. A man with the title of Sharpa Tulku (shar pa sprul sku, d.u.) requested Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub to give teachings at this time, which he did, giving initiations and instructions from his own pure vision cycles to a group of seven people including Trijang Lobzang Yeshe Tendzin Gyatso and Takdrak Dorje Chang Ngawang Sungrab Tutob (stag brag rdo rje ‘chang ngag dbang gsung rab mthu stobs, 1874-1952). Trijang Lobzang Yeshe Tendzin Gyatso also privately received the secret jenang of Cittamani Tara directly from Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub, the final empowerment out of a series of three jenang empowerments related to this deity, the other two being the essential outer torma initiation and the inner body mandala initiation. He also received the Glorious Grant of Immortality (‘chi med dpal ster) long-life initiation which Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub had also bestowed on the Second Pabongkha, Dechen Nyingpo (pha bong kha 02 bde chen snying po, 1878-1941) during an earlier visit to U-Tsang.

Due to his faith in Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub, Trijang Lobzang Yeshe Tendzin Gyatso asked him for a divination concerning which deity to focus on as his main practice and what would happen to him at the end of his life. Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub is said to have communicated this request to Tara, and she gave him eight lines of text as a response. Apart from Pabongkha, Trijang Lobzang Yeshe Tendzin Gyatso, and those mentioned above, Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub had many other students as well as a number of disciples and patrons in the upper echelons of Tibetan society, such as the Prime Minister (srid blon) Lochen Shatra Peljor Dorje (blon chen bshad sgra dpal ‘byor rdo rje, 1860-1919).

Pabongkha himself also travelled to Naksho several times in order to visit Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub, including visits in 1926 and 1935. During his first trip Pabongkha visited the Driru Drubde Monastery (‘bri ru sgrub sde dgon), also known as Genden Lukzang Kunphel Ling (dge ldan lugs bzang kun ‘phel gling) in Driru Dzong (‘bri ru rdzong), which had been established by Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub in 1920. Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub bestowed teachings and initiations on Pabongkha during these visits, including Ganden Nyengyu (dga’ ldan snyan rgyud) teachings such as Guru Puja (bla ma mchod pa), a number of Lamrim teachings, the Thirteen Pure Visions of Takpu, as well as the life-entrustment initiation of Dorje Shugden following the close lineage which he had received in Tusita.

It was also in the year of this final meeting in 1935 that Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub passed away. His death is often given as 1922, but in both Trijang and Pabongkha’s biographies he was still alive in 1923 and later, and the later date is corroborated by other sources as well, particularly in the biographies of several Chamdo lamas, from the period, who received teachings from him there in the 1930s.

Teachers

• ngag dbang mkhyen rab bstan pa’i dbang phyug ངག་དབང་མཁྱེན་རབ་བསྟན་པའི་དབང་ཕྱུག།
• thub bstan chos kyi dbang phyug ཐུབ་བསྟན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག།

Students

• The Second Pabongkha, Dechen Nyingpo ཕ་བོང་ཁ ༠༢ བདེ་ཆེན་སྙིང་པོ། b.1878 – d.1941

Previous Incarnations

• Chogyel Tendzin ཆོས་རྒྱལ་བསྟན་འཛིན།
• dpal ldan don grub དཔལ་ལྡན་དོན་གྲུབ། b.1382 – d.1466
• blo bzang bstan pa’i rgyal mtshan བློ་བཟང་བསྟན་པའི་རྒྱལ་མཚན། b.1714 – d.1762
• blo bzang chos kyi dbang phyug བློ་བཟང་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག། b.1765 – d.1792
• The Twentieth Ganden Tripa, Chodrak Zangpo དགའ་ལྡན་ཁྲི་པ ༢༠ ཆོས་གྲགས་བཟང་པོ། b.1493 – d.1559

Bibliography

• Anon. 209. Dpal ldan ‘bras spungs dgon gyi dkar chag dri med dwangs gsal shel gyi me long. Beijing: Krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang. TBRC W2GS1123.
• Bde chen snying po. 199? Shugs ldan srog gtad kyi sngon ‘gro’i mtshams sbyor kha skong. In Gsung ‘bum / bde chen snying po, vol. 7, pp. 527-542. Lhasa. TBRC W3834.
• Blo bzang ye shes bstan ‘dzin rgya mtsho, 1975. Dga’ ldan khri chen byang chub chos ‘phel gyi skye gral du rlom pa’i gyi na pa zhig gis rang gi ngang tshul ma bcos lhug par bkod pa ‘khrul snang sgyu ma’i zlos gar. India: [s.n.]. TBRC W14615.
• Blo bzang ye shes bstan ‘dzin rgya mtsho. 199? Rdo rje shug ldan gyi sang gsum rmad du byung ba’i rtogs brjod dam can rgya mtsho gyes pa’i rol mo, In Gsung ‘bum / blo bzang ye shes bstan ‘dzin rgya mtsho, vol. 5, pp. 5-160. Chendu? TBRC W14592.
• Chab spel tshe brtan phun tshogs, ed. 1991. Bod kyi gal che’i lo rgyus yig cha bdams bsgrigs. Lhasa: Bod ljongs mi dmangs dpe skrun khang. TBRC W19220.
• Grags pa ‘byung gnas and Rgyal ba blo bzang mkhas grub. 1992. Gangs can mkhas grub rim byon ming mdzod. Lanzhou: Kan su’u mi rigs dpe skrun khang, p. 740.
• ‘Jam dpal bdan pa’i dngos grub. stag phu ‘jam dpal bdan pa’i dngos grub bam pad ma badzra’i gsung ‘bum. Potala Collection.
• Ldan ma blo bzang rdo rje. 1981. Rigs dang dkyil ‘khor rgya mtsho’i khyab bdag he ru kaH dpal ngur smrig gar rol skyabs gcig pha bong kha pa bde chen snying po dpal bzang po’i rnam par thar pa don ldan tshangs pa’i dbyangs snyan. Delhi: Ngawang Sopa. TBRC W23912.

Source: Joona Repo, “The Fourth Takpu, Pema Vajra Jampel Tenpai Ngodrub,” Treasury of Lives, accessed July 23, 2018, http://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Takpu-06-Pema-Vajra-Jampel-Tenpai-Ngodrub/4000.

Joona Repo is currently a researcher at the Department of World Cultures, University of Helsinki.

Published June 2011

Disclaimer: All rights are reserved by the author. The article is reproduced here for educational purposes only.

Source: https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Takpu-Pema-Vajra-Jampel-Tenpai-Ngodrub/TBRC_P231. Click on image to enlarge.

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